Rare Count of Créquy Portrait Ring
From the Journal
Buying Antique Rings Online: Sizing, Resizing and Wearability
Tax included.
Shipping calculated at checkout.
Drop A Hint
Visit Our London Showroom
Our London showroom is open by appointment only.
Email
info@ravensburyantiques.com
to arrange a visit.
-
A Georgian mourning ring for one of the strangest noblemen of 18th-century France: Hugues de Créquy, Comte de Canaples (the Count of Canaples), more commonly known as Le Barbu, “the Bearded One”. Surviving accounts give his death only as 1785, but with no further date. This ring is the only known source which reveals his full date of death.The Créquys were among the oldest noble families in northern France, a line of crusaders, marshals and cardinals. Hugues, who inherited the title of Canaples from his brother, cared little for any of it. He was a Voltairean deist: like Voltaire, he believed in a creator God who set the universe in motion and then left it alone, so he had no use for priests, miracles or prayer. In Catholic France it came close to scandal. In 1768 he formally instructed the curé of Orville not to name him in the parish prayers, declaring prayer to be an act of rebellion against God. The story delighted Voltaire.He stayed a bachelor into old age. Asked why, he replied that he was waiting for someone to ask him. Someone did: Marie de Comerford, a young Irishwoman said to have been in his household. They married in his seventies. He left Orville, which he found too cramped, for a grander château, Château de Caumesnil, grew the waist-length beard that gave him his name, and withdrew from society. When he died in 1785, aged 82, Paris gossip claimed his wife had poisoned him and fled with his fortune. Within a year she was in London, styling herself Countess de Créquy.That makes the ring all the more intriguing. Its gold content is 9K gold, which means that it was made in England (French standard was 18K), and therefore this ring was almost certainly commissioned by Marie de Comerford herself to wear as a mourning ring. A truly rare and important ring.The miniature, painted in watercolour on ivory and set beneath rock crystal, shows him just as legend describes: bald, white-bearded, pale-eyed, in a buttoned green coat. The back is engraved Hugo Comes de Crequy Canaples ob. 2 Feb 1785 Æ 82: “Hugh, Count of Créquy-Canaples, died 2 February 1785, aged 82.”The broad bezel curves to the finger and sits comfortably for its size. It is part portrait, part historical document, and wholly unique.Details: 1785; English; painted miniature on ivory under rock crystal; 9K rose gold (tested); bezel 3 × 2.2 cm; 9.64g; UK V, US 10½, can be resized.Condition: Overall condition is very good. There is fine dust and spotting beneath the crystal, visible in the photographs, and light wear to the gold.
A Georgian mourning ring for one of the strangest noblemen of 18th-century France: Hugues de Créquy, Comte de Canaples (the Count of Canaples), more commonly known as Le Barbu, “the Bearded One”. Surviving accounts give his death only as 1785, but with no further date. This ring is the only known source which reveals his full date of death.
The Créquys were among the oldest noble families in northern France, a line of crusaders, marshals and cardinals. Hugues, who inherited the title of Canaples from his brother, cared little for any of it. He was a Voltairean deist: like Voltaire, he believed in a creator God who set the universe in motion and then left it alone, so he had no use for priests, miracles or prayer. In Catholic France it came close to scandal. In 1768 he formally instructed the curé of Orville not to name him in the parish prayers, declaring prayer to be an act of rebellion against God. The story delighted Voltaire.
He stayed a bachelor into old age. Asked why, he replied that he was waiting for someone to ask him. Someone did: Marie de Comerford, a young Irishwoman said to have been in his household. They married in his seventies. He left Orville, which he found too cramped, for a grander château, Château de Caumesnil, grew the waist-length beard that gave him his name, and withdrew from society. When he died in 1785, aged 82, Paris gossip claimed his wife had poisoned him and fled with his fortune. Within a year she was in London, styling herself Countess de Créquy.
That makes the ring all the more intriguing. Its gold content is 9K gold, which means that it was made in England (French standard was 18K), and therefore this ring was almost certainly commissioned by Marie de Comerford herself to wear as a mourning ring. A truly rare and important ring.
The miniature, painted in watercolour on ivory and set beneath rock crystal, shows him just as legend describes: bald, white-bearded, pale-eyed, in a buttoned green coat. The back is engraved Hugo Comes de Crequy Canaples ob. 2 Feb 1785 Æ 82: “Hugh, Count of Créquy-Canaples, died 2 February 1785, aged 82.”
The broad bezel curves to the finger and sits comfortably for its size. It is part portrait, part historical document, and wholly unique.
Details: 1785; English; painted miniature on ivory under rock crystal; 9K rose gold (tested); bezel 3 × 2.2 cm; 9.64g; UK V, US 10½, can be resized.
Condition: Overall condition is very good. There is fine dust and spotting beneath the crystal, visible in the photographs, and light wear to the gold.
OUR PROMISE
We will always guarantee the authenticity of every piece we sell
We offer a no questions asked 30-day return policy on all orders
All our items are sent boxed and gift wrapped with free global insured shipping
We examine, describe and photograph all our jewellery with the utmost care
